The Icarus Factor
by lyrainthedark
Summary: Those who fly too close to the sun on fragile wings are doomed to fall; sometimes, Time is nothing more than a bright light. COMPLETE.
1. Masque

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**I.**

_Masque_

For a long time, he dreams. Her face haunts him as it has always haunted him, but to new purpose; he hates her, oh how he hates her – as much as he once loved her soul.

It is the sight of her – it is that beautiful, beautiful face that awakens the memory inside him – vividly.

That draws him out of himself.

_I am Naraku_, he thinks, and then he steps forward with an innocent smile and wide, brown eyes for which girls older than him have been known to faint.

_And that...that is_ _**Kagome**_.

He intends to _utterly_ destroy her.


	2. Relics

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**II.**

_Relics_

He often follows her, out of sight and beyond the reach of her fragile power – so tiny now, that gorgeous glow; so low, mere embers of what he has seen burning as a great flame. In the mornings, he watches her – the common routine of her day. In evenings, he stalks her – becomes the dark eyes of the night which all men fear by instinct when the dark has fallen.

And then _one_ morning, while he is watching her, she goes into the darkness of the well house and he feels a _spark_ – a power.

_Shikon_.


	3. Disaster

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**III.**

_Disaster_

He races to the forest and the mountains, races like he has not moved since the combat that destroyed him, five centuries past. He goes with such speed that whole cities are struck by violent winds; in the woods, he turns his face to heaven and screams, enraged.

This whole time, all these watching years, the great prize has been before him.

_All this time._

The shikon no tama, within his grasp – no irritating hanyou to fight him for it, no Inuyoukai holding absurd grudges...no miko of power, staring him down with holy light.

Lost to him now – again.


	4. Conundrum

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**IV.**

_Conundrum_

It is three days before she returns – and he is waiting for it, watching it. When he sees her, yelling at her grandfather, drenched in sake, dressed in those robes -

_Miko!_

He feels two pangs within himself. One is for the woman he has always wanted, has lusted after unto his own destruction. The other is sharper – confusion...distrust of his own senses.

_What has happened to you, Kagome?_

_Where did you go?_

The truth is too impossible; the truth does not even occur to him as a possibility. Not yet – not while she is still so innocent of pain and power.


	5. Clues

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**V.**

_Clues_

It takes seven months for him to learn that she is not the girl he came to know for her defiance; there is nothing deeper in her than the usual concerns of a teenager in her life and he _despises _her for it.

_Am I the only one who remembers? Am I to be tormented for my sins with her wretched, foolish existence?_

It is not until the beginning of the next school year – not until her absences begin to be prolonged – not until scars that he himself once inflicted begin to appear on her body – that he realizes...the truth.


	6. Timescape

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**VI.**

_Timescape_

_My past is her future._

_What she becomes will destroy who I was._

In the dark of a moonless night he stands outside the shrine he knows is her home and stares at the long stair that leads up into the grounds. He holds a knife in his hands and regards it with distaste – too well, he remembers a time when he relied on his wits and his power; this is a crude instrument.

_Kagome..._

Before morning, he is gone – but Kagome wakes to the odor of a potent miasma, an odor which she is learning to fear by instinct.

It washes over her through her window and wakes her with a start – and then it fades, and she thinks, _only a dream_.


	7. Liasions

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**VII.**

_Liaisons_

In the morning, she finds herself the object of interest of the entire schoolyard, for one of the most eligible of the senior boys is standing in front of her, introducing himself, taking her hand – _Hojou_, that is his name, and even though he is nothing like the hanyou for whom she is developing certain feelings, a thrum speaks inside her, urges her forward to take his hand.

There is something familiar in the garnet glint of his brown eyes – something that teases her, something she is tempted to explore.

"Higurashi Kagome, Hojou. It's very nice to meet you."


	8. Despised

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**VIII.**

_Despised_

Naraku works carefully to build the face of _Hojou_, a kind boy, a good boy, the fulfillment of every girl's dream. He will be a knight in shining armor to those who need it, a leader and an upright, righteous citizen; his intelligence is unquestioned, his speech smooth and polished, and he maintains a shapely form that attracts girls and women like flies – tousled hair, soft smile, brown eyes with a hint of garnet, a touch of red.

He is careful, because he knows if she finds out the truth, he will be despised – and he wants her to want him. To need him

_So she can be denied, just as I was denied._


	9. Lessons

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**IX.**

_Lessons_

For Kagome, the days go on as they are meant to go on, though she does not know this. She fights battles for shards, suffers the terrible excuses her grandfather comes up with on the phone, and receives odd gifts from the one person who does not seem to mind the strangeness in her life.

_Hojou_...

She smiles faintly and strokes the wrapper on the latest package – bath salts as a cure all?

_Why not? At least they smell nice._

She feels guilty, as she always does, when she thinks about how she has stood him up most recently, how she doesn't really feel the way she should towards such a genial, handsome gentleman. She lets out a long sigh as she sinks into her bath.

_Too genial, perhaps._

Thoughts of Hojou fade into daydreams of Inuyasha.


	10. Attached

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**X.**

_Attached_

After several months of gifts, and broken dates, and after deciding that, really, she had been right in the first place and Hojou was just not her type, no matter how much she wanted him to be...

Kagome decides it was wrong to lead him on, wrong to let him think he had a chance with her.

_He deserves an explanation, and the truth – well, some of it – so that he can...move on to a better girl. One who will treat him right._

She finds him after school; he offers to walk her home. She allows this, for the first time, because she is kind-hearted and it would be rude to let him down in front of his friends.


	11. Emergence

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**XI.**

_Emergence_

As they are walking, he contemplates the look on her face; not something he likes, or wants to see – he's seen it before, when the thing she is trying to do to him has happened to other men.

"Hojou, I – I wanted to tell you...I don't...I don't think this...is working between us."

He looks at her, and fakes surprise.

"It's not? I know we haven't been able to spend too much time together, because of your -"

"No, Hojou, that's not it. I think it's just...you're too good for me, Hojou. You need to find a nicer girl than me."

She is startled into stopping when his fist cracks into the concrete wall besides them; she looks across at him and sees his eyes are _burning._


	12. Rascal

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**XII.**

_Rascal_

"Too good for you? Too _good_? I don't think you know what you're talking about, Kagome."

Her eyes look at him sharply, suddenly wide. She has never heard him speak in such a strong voice; he sounds...almost like a different person; darker, more intense.

"Hojou?"

"I'm not _too good_, Kagome. I'm very, _very_ bad."

His hands are in her hair then, and his mouth pressed against her lips and his tongue is moving over them, caressing, startling a moan from her. She can feel his fingers against her scalp, sharp and tender, holding her in place; his mouth, his tongue, moving against her tongue, now –

He steps away, suddenly, and smiles.


	13. Challenge

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**XIII.**

_Challenge_

"I think you don't really mean what you're saying, Kagome. I think you feel bad because you haven't been able to meet me when we've planned; I think you feel like you're taking advantage, taking my gifts when you aren't even able to keep our dates."

He steps near her again, presses her back against the broken concrete wall, and then leans forward to press his lips to her throat, leaves a trail of hot, open-mouthed kisses until she turns her mouth to him again expectantly.

Again, he steps away.

"Well, Kagome? Is it true?"


	14. Chimera

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**XIV.**

_Chimera_

She stares at him, at this stranger who is Hojou; his eyes glitter at her intensely, his features are still as rough-and-tumble handsome but his mouth is curved in a seductive smile that teases her with a glint of teeth, with the flicker of his tongue as it comes out over his lips, tastes the gloss that's been transferred from her mouth to his.

"You taste like peaches Kagome, but your scent is yellow jasmine. Peaches are sweet, but jasmine is poison – do you kiss to kill, Kagome?"

Her retort is breathless fire.

"No! But I think _you _do -"


	15. Parallels

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**XV.**

_Parallels_

He laughs at her, and Kagome stares at him for a long, quiet moment; she can't deny that he has awoken some kind of passion in her with his kiss – and the fact that he wants her so much, that he has expressed himself so forcefully – it's attractive to her.

She is forced to realize that really, he is speaking the truth; she doesn't know him at all, not anything but his name and the desire he claims to have – though she believes that, now.

_And he's strong -_

The cracked wall at her back is as much of an enticement as anything else, and she recognizes then that she has been so fixated on Inuyasha that Hojou never really had a chance.

"You're right. You're – right."

The intensity fades from him a bit, but she can see it now, even under his usual smile.

"Well – then what are you doing tonight, Kagome?"

She stares at him, and then looks back over her shoulder; the shrine is near, and the well, and...

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Where shall we go?"

* * *

A/N: And...phew. 15 100 word chapters, once again in this pairing of evil instigated by The Evil Muffin Button...Naqaashi :p More to come as soon as I get the bits in order and the filler written in; so please,

Please Review!


	16. Distracted

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**XVI.**

_Distracted_

He brings her to a film, and then to dinner. For the first time, Kagome allows herself to have fun; to be swept up in Hojou's obvious attraction, to laugh like the teenager she is. She notices that Hojou is more serious than she first thought; that his eyes tend to take on a brooding cast when he thinks she is not looking; that his mouth twists occasionally into a sharp, seductive smile. When she sees it, it makes her breath catch and she wonders at it, chides herself -

_You have feelings for Inuyasha, remember, Kagome?_

But she cannot help thinking of Hojou's kiss, the heat of his mouth in the afternoon.


	17. Tease

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**XVII.**

_Tease_

Heis happy to be with Kagome – happy to sit beside her during the film, happy to pay for her dinner, happy to see the flush and the smile that spreads across her face each time she turns to look at him. There is more pleasure in this than just the torment that he knows he will one day be able to inflict on her with these memories...these are the things that he wanted from his life in another time, with another woman, when he was a different man.

He leaves her at her door with nothing more than that same smile – and laughs inside himself at her silent disappointment.


	18. Immaterial

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**XVIII.**

_Immaterial_

One sentimental moment leads onward to the next, but despite his best efforts Naraku sees that he is slowly losing ground. Even from that first moment, even as she continues to smile and laugh in his company...even when he gives in to urges that are base and simple and steals the innocence from her dreams with more than one wanting kiss.

He sees her struggle with her own conflicting urges, but he knows that he is doomed to fail – days and nights on end she spends in his past; days and nights on end she spends with Inuyasha.

He can steal only hours of her precious time...and it is never enough.


	19. Transparent

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**XIX.**

_Transparent_

He is patient – he has been patient for five hundred years, and before that, patient for fifty. He had destroyed his human life with his impulsiveness – he is intent on not wasting this chance, this last, unexpected opportunity, in the same way.

The events of the past that are working themselves into being are obvious to him by the scars that Kagome gains and the nightmares that she suffers. He can think back and see the battles clearly in his mind -

And one day, he surprises himself by staring at her with the faintest feeling of regret.


	20. Denial

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XX.**

_Denial_

The newest wound is a neatly stitched cut on her right cheek.

He finds himself hoping it will not scar.

He finds himself thinking, _how foolish I was to mar such beauty_.

He finds himself horrified at the turn his own thoughts have taken, and within himself he focuses on the suffering of the last five centuries. On the panic, the rage, that had overtaken him in the last moments of that final battle; on all the silent years as _nothing_ and _no one_.

He pretends not to notice that even that is not enough to quell that first hope.


	21. Divided

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**XXI.**

_Divided_

A year passes, and then two. Kagome is overwhelmed by the successes expected of her by two worlds, two eras, two families. She spends longer and longer in the past at a time, returns home for brief hours, sometimes a day, and then dives back through time.

Her heart is Inuyasha's now – she wants to be with him, to be beside him; she dreams still of the fire of Hojou's kiss, but the eyes she sees are gold, not red.

Part of the reason she is avoiding the future is to avoid the split in her feelings, her desires.

Part of the reason is the battle that must be won.


	22. Scream

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**XXII.**

_Scream_

There is a day when she is locked out of the past – she thinks forever. There is a day when she walks with a heavy heart and heavy steps into her familiar school building, and there she wanders with her thoughts in the past and a desperate, lost expression on her face.

She talks to her friends in the same tones as always, listens to their troubles – so petty, their troubles! - and feels a scream bubbling up inside her; a cry, a wail strong enough to breach the barrier of time.

She holds her breath instead, and tries to forget.


	23. Incomprehensible

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**XXIII.**

_Incomprehensible_

He takes his chances where they come, and when she returns for a day of classes that becomes a week, and then two, hope grows in him no matter how false he knows it must be.

The time has not yet come for the most terrible battle; it has only been a little more than two years, and for four and more she stood against him with her band of companions – until the end.

_My end_.

He is struggling to hold on to his grudge with all his power; why it is so hard he cannot begin to imagine.


	24. Near

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**XXIV.**

_Near_

In the middle of the third week after she returns, he asks her to come with him on a _special_ date – special because even though she is sure she has forgotten, this day is the anniversary of the day he first saw her, standing quiet and innocent, a blue-eyed beauty with his death in her pocket.

She is all glow to him now, nothing subtle, nothing subdued.

This day will be forever memorable.

This day, he recognizes the conflict that closeness has brought to life within him.

_Do I want you to suffer, Kagome? Or do I want you to be mine?_


	25. Curious

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**XXV.**

_Curious_

It has been a long time since Kagome has allowed Hojou this close to her; since she has been home long enough for him to manage to ask her somewhere, never mind take her – since she felt the soft and pleasing tension of being with someone who wants her for her _self_.

She has almost convinced herself to let go of the vanished past to which it seems she can no longer return; it is easier not to miss it when she is with Hojou.

When she is with Hojou, she is happy – but...

The sparkling sense of her miko power tingles oddly within her in his presence.

_Why is that? Hojou's human, isn't he?_


	26. Secret

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**XXVI.**

_Secret_

Over the following days, Kagome's assumption is sorely tested – later, when she thinks on it, she will wonder how much of what he allowed her to see was on purpose, and how much of it was simply his unknowing strangeness – hints that he is not what he appears.

From the beginning she has sensed that the face she met in the schoolyard, the smile she first saw there, is a mask. What it hides she does not begin to suspect – but she knows it is there.

She saw it the day he walked her home and cracked a concrete wall with little effort -

The day she realized her infatuation with youkai began with the darkness in their blood -

The day his kiss touched heat inside her for the first time.


	27. Coruscate

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**XXVII.**

_Coruscate_

The next time she is with him, Kagome allows her power to flow in all its fullness. It grows bright around her, for those with the sight to see it; as gently as she can, she lets that flow caress Hojou...and recoils almost at once.

_Youkai!_

_Power!_

_Youkai -_

_Death, death, death, death, death._

Purity sings within her, begging – but she denies it, coils it close and tight, and then – only then – looks at Hojou and sees that his iris has lost all color but crimson.

Sees that he is staring at her -

That he knows what she has done.

What she _knows_.


	28. Skeletal

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**XXVIII.**

_Skeletal_

"Are you going to kill me, Kagome?"

His voice is soft and steely, penetrating. He sounds prepared for any answer and that makes her wonder, but she shakes her head at once, harshly, rejecting everything his words imply.

"No – no, I...why would I do that? You haven't hurt me; you _wouldn't _hurt me. I won't you kill you just because you're – _youkai_."

The last word is a whisper; her eyes are furtive and he smiles faintly, amused at her attempts at secrecy.

Her trust is absolutely astonishing to him; easily, he weaves fragile outlines, lies and omissions for her to attempt to unravel.

_One day I will tell you the truth, Kagome – but not now._


	29. Interrupted

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**XXIX.**

_Interrupted_

Just as she is beginning to give in to him, just as she is beginning to contemplate the future in her present -

Just as he is beginning to hope that somehow, without even trying, he has changed time -

The passage to the past opens, in a moment of despair.

He watches her, this time – watches her flinger herself into the past with a deep breath, watches the glow of an unnatural light take hold of her and sweep her away as she digs at the unyielding earth with dull, breaking fingernails.

_I knew better – I knew it was not over yet._

He sweeps away from the well house and once more begins to wait.


	30. Belief

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XXX.**

_Belief_

This time...this time, when Kagome returns to the past, there is a change. At first it is something that she detects only within herself; a far fainter tug of feeling for the gold eyes and the adorable puppy ears – a lack of pain when he leaves at night and goes to his first love...a lack of joy, when he confronts Kouga and is possessive of her.

She is evasive of his occasional questions about Hojou; she denies, denies, denies – she does not see what this means, until it is time for her to go home again...

And even then, she can barely believe the thing she knows to be true.


	31. Domestic

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**XXXI.**

_Domestic_

Kagome's mother is the first one to notice the change besides Kagome herself – and when she is confronted by her mother's questions, Kagome cannot help but notice two things.

First is that despite the little amount of time she has spent in the friendly environs of her home, her mother is still the one person in her life who knows her best. Not even Sango has guessed at the changing currents of her heart – currents that she herself has yet to understand.

The second thing is that she is happy – happy not just to be in this familiar, comfortable, comforting place; happy not just for her mother's advice; happy not just to sleep in her own soft bed, but to wake and reach for the phone and dial a now-familiar number.

Happy to hear Hojou's voice again.


	32. Discretion

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XXXII.**

_Discretion_

That afternoon, she meets with him; there is light bubbling in her, joy bouncing in her blood like strange magic. Because the well is now open, because Inuyasha is jealous and because she does not relish the thought of the confrontation she knows will happen if he finds her in the company of some other male, Kagome is subtle in her planning.

She wears clothes that she would never wear to the feudal era – a blouse with lace sleeves, a skirt of sheer, dancing layers, a pair of heels. She perfumes her wrists and throat, but lightly, and frosts her features with the barest touch of cosmetics.

When she is ready, she closes her eyes and searches the grounds of the shrine with her power; feels nothing, no youkai presence, no familiar hanyou.

She smiles, and darts quietly out into the city.


	33. Chitchat

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**XXXIII.**

_Chit-chat_

It is not long before the burden of the secret she is keeping begins to wear on her – from both sides. She does laundry constantly, and finds herself bathing twice before she dares to venture back across the well after she has been home; she knows she has been close enough to Hojou that Inuyasha will scent him and wonder. She feels vaguely like she is betraying him in some way, though there is no agreement but friendship and duty that has ever been spoken between them.

When she is with Hojou, the problem is the opposite – but she cannot bring herself to tell him of her adventures in the past, cannot imagine that he will believe her, even if he is youkai. It becomes harder and harder not to mention her _real_ friends when they sit for hours, conversing; it becomes harder to listen to her grandfather lie about ridiculous illnesses when she considers that he must be terribly worried, all the time.

_But what can I do? What can I do about **either** of them?_


	34. Quiver

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**XXXIV.**

_Quiver_

Naraku is aware of her dilemma, and greatly pleased. He had not expected to influence her so easily, so quickly; if not for the fact that Inuyasha's love and trust have always been imperfect, divided, perhaps he would not have.

But he can sense the breaking feeing within her, and the turning of her heart in his direction. He spaces his kisses carefully, barely allows his hands to wander and only when she is most responsive to him, most passionate. But he is careful. So, so careful.

_Perhaps, too careful?_

He remembers it was the day he showed his darkness that he first gained her interest, her attention. He is aware that is his physical forwardness, his open affection and words of endearment, that make him most different from Inuyasha.

_And oh, how I love to feel you trembling in my grasp._


	35. Tubby

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**XXXV.**

_Tubby_

That afternoon is a memorable one. In the park, they walk together, talk together; she asks him about his history, about his nature, about how he survived when the world has grown dim and empty of power. He does not tell her much – he hints at tragedy, and a long past of wandering, and the pain of being powerless in a cruel and changing world.

She holds him close, her eyes shining with tears of compassion; he wonders what she would say if he told her that _she _was the cause of most of his past regrets.

Then a couple strolls by, a young married couple with an infant; Kagome _must_ coo over it, and inside he sneers – until he looks at her, really looks.

And then he cannot stop staring at her, cuddling a chubby baby and smiling at bright, new life.


	36. Flufferdinkle

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**XXXVI.**

_Flufferdinkle_

He listens to her soft singing, raises an eyebrow at her nonsense words, and does not move or say a word while she accidentally melts an evil man. He cannot deny it now – the urge is visceral, compelling.

_I want this woman. I want her not for her image as I desired Kikyou, not for her purity and her status as a vessel of great powers; I want her being; I want her whole; I want her for my woman, my pale and lovely bride._

_I want her for my children, as their mother; I want her for my bed and for my future._


	37. Apology

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XXXVII.**

_Apology_

For a moment, a flickering instant, Naraku scowls – but the expression shifts like a breeze into softness, and his eyes do not leave her face. The couple takes back their child, and continues on their way; Kagome takes his arm, and they continue on theirs.

In that moment, feeling her warmth and her _light_ and the utter _joy_ of her presence, he feels almost compelled to tell her the truth – to rip away the dark veil from his life and expose every festering atrocity which he committed against her. It is not an apology that he desires – nothing more than a confession, so that she knows all her secrets are foreknown to him and all her future pains for naught -

And his brow crinkles, thinking that.

And he knows he must keep his secret for just a little while longer; just a little while.


	38. Demand

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**XXXVIII.**

_Demand_

Kagome return to the past, and stays there for more than a month this time. She misses Hojou, misses him greatly – their conversations, his warm presence, his kisses and his affectionate words. The feelings she had nurtured for Inuyasha have faded almost to ash; only when he gentles her unexpectedly does she feel a throb of that old heartache, and it is so faint that she knows soon it will be gone forever.

Recognizing this makes her look at Hojou in a more critical light, makes her think of all the questions she has asked that have come back unanswered, all the evasions and all the kiss-killed queries that have passed between them over the past three years.

She remembers meeting him for the first time, and the day of their first kiss, and she wonders – who is the mask? Who is he _really_?

_When I go home I will ask him, and this time I will not let him avoid answering._


	39. Adoration

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XXXIX.**

_Adoration_

She does exactly what she intends; she goes back to the future, back to her own time, and when she is rested and fed and showered and certain, _certain_ that she _must know_ – she calls Hojou, and meets him at her door. They walk out into the grounds, down past Goshinboku and into the edges of the wood that still frame their land against the city – and there, in the silence and the wild, she tells him her truths and asks him her question.

"Hojou – Hojou, I'm afraid. I'm loving you, and I don't know who you are – I'm loving you, and all I really know about you is your name and your kiss -"

"You don't want me to answer that question, Kagome."

"You _must_."

He stares at her, and knows he has come to the moment he wanted all along – except...he doesn't. But it is here, and wanting no longer matters.

"Five hundred years ago, when I wore a different face, I went by a different name."

He studies her features, wonders if that is enough – sees that obviously, it is not.

"Five hundred years, ago, I was _Naraku_...and you destroyed me."


	40. Moronic

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XL.**

_Moronic_

Kagome stares, and stares, and stares. At the red glint of his eyes; at the curve of his lips – she hears her heart pounding loud in her ears for one moment, sharp and cutting within her as broken glass.

_How could I have been so stupid? How could I have not noticed? How could I have not **seen**?_

She blames her senses, for being only human – she blames her power, for never being strong enough. She blames herself in general and specific, every part of herself and then her very soul; she blames, and when she can shoulder no more, she runs to her bed and cries.


	41. Touch

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XLI.**

_Touch_

That night, she dreams of Naraku and of Hojou; of the past, and of the present. She sees the brown-haired boy with whom she has fallen in love; she sees the violent trauma of every evil he has ever worked as a backdrop to the absurd tale of her own pointless love story.

She dreams every word, every kiss – every lie, every omission...words of endearment and long meandering talks.

She dreams – and she wakes longing for him, and hating him, and loving him, and hating herself.

She dreams, and she wishes she had not asked that question; wishes she had never returned to the past that now haunts her every step.


	42. Luminous

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XLII.**

_Luminous_

She returns to the past without seeing him again; he watches her go, and feels an unknown, unusual ache.

He has done most of what he intended, though not in the manner he originally considered; he has broken her, broken her with nothing but the truth. He did not think she would call him or return to him, but he is surprised to find that he _hoped_ she would; it is the second such hope to betray him.

While he struggles with conscience and emotion, Kagome burns – with anger, and love, and fury at both feelings. Her power rises to the challenge, and with single-minded focus, with one purpose, with great dedication, Kagome tunes her skills to the task of finding and fighting her long-time foe.


	43. Murmur

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XLIII.**

_Murmur_

It is as if he is waiting for her – as if he knows that some great showdown is approaching, unavoidable, a battle to decide the fate and future of the world. The _shikon_ has become a secondary concern; for Kagome, the battle is vengeance for a love she does not want to feel – for her companions, it is vengeance for lives stolen, pains suffered...

She feels guilt as she positions herself among broken rocks and presses her hand between her breasts, feeling the speed of her heart and the pain there, because it is five hundred years before she will meet him, unknowing, but still – it is the one she loves she's fighting.

She stares across the battlefield at Naraku's face – at his eyes, which are familiar –

She sees the glowing golden light of Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga.

She sends her arrow out to match and follow it.

She whispers words she knows he will not here.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry – I forgive you – I'm sorry -"


	44. Boom

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XLIV.**

_Boom_

Light and power intersect – youki and reiki, demon and miko, unholy and pure. Into the center of the maelstrom, Kagome shoots a second arrow, and the added momentum throbs forward until the whole mass of energy is crawling across Naraku's skin, bubbling his flesh, all-consuming, devouring.

She hears a scream – a terrible scream. Her eyes burn with unshed tears and the brightness of the light; as it resolves over him, she hears a sudden _boom_, and then a sound like the crashing of the loudest thunder she has ever heard.

She bites back a sob, and watches Naraku disappear into the light.


	45. Paradox

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XLV.**

_Paradox_

The light fades, white to bright, bright to night. Kagome hears Sango calling to Miroku behind her, sees Inuyasha's hand come down from shielding his eyes, watches him turn to look at her with the glow her heart once beat for -

And then she steps forward, carefully, and picks up the shikon no tama from the ground, and holds it in her hands, cradled close, crouched on the ground where only black dust remains of Naraku.

_Except...that can't be true. _

And _there_ – on the grass on its back – a _spider_. An insect...so tiny. Harmless, now. With one hand, she reaches out and picks up the spider; she lays it gently down again, right side up, and then turns away and walks back to Inuyasha.


	46. Relinquish

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XLVI.**

_Relinquish_

She says goodbye then, because she can feel the pulse of light in her palms and she knows what is going to happen. She is afraid – but if she is going to be locked out of one time forever, then she knows in her heart it is her own in which she belongs.

_Someone is waiting for me._

She surprises herself with the thought; she made up her mind to forgive him, but she doesn't understand why her heart is so ready.

"Inuyasha, thank you for being a good friend – the best. Sango, thank you for being like the sister I never had; I will always cherish you. Miroku – thank you for teaching me, and for being the big brother I always wanted; take care of Sango for me."

The last goodbye is the hardest.


	47. Unforgettable

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**XLVII.**

_Unforgettable_

"Shippou – if I could bring you with me I would take you to momma and somehow, somehow we would be a family. But we _are_ a family, even though for now I am saying goodbye – be strong, Shippou. Grow strong and tall, and remember – you are youkai. You are so small now, but you will see me again. Wait, even though I know it will be hard, and someday we will meet again."

The light has grown again; it infuses her body, her skin, her soul.

"Take care of Inuyasha for me, won't you Shippou?"

Her laughter tinkles like a bell.

She leaves behind the breath of her scent and a pair of tears.


	48. Uncertain

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XLVIII.**

_Uncertain_

He is waiting for her, waiting for her and wearing, for the first time, his own face. Younger, yes – because Higurashi-san would never allow a random man to wait for her daughter in the well house in the dark -

But a schoolboy? Her friend; someone who knows about Kagome's grand adventures? A confidant, oh...yes...

He is conflicted; he is confused.

This day – he knows what it is. His being is _burning_ with the knowledge; today, five hundred years ago, he was reduced to almost nothing, to the basest, lowest form in which he could survive...

_She did it_.

The well lights with an unearthly blue glow, and Naraku stands back, stares at it.

This is the moment he has been waiting for; now...what will he do with it?


	49. Precipice

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**XLIX**

_Precipice_

_I wanted to destroy you, Kagome. I have built lies upon lies and then truths upon lies for years, ever since I first saw you, a blue-eyed, innocent child, and knew that you were the one who had once destroyed me. I believed it was a reincarnation – that you were that girl, made anew, in the same way that the girl had once been Kikyou. It was by your hands – **your hands –** it was minutes ago - _

She steps out of the well and into his arms; her trust astonishes him, when she has newly come from the worst threat he ever made to her life. He scents her tears, and her pain, and the odor of the shikon no tama, sharp as if newly minted from fresh souls.

He reaches out his hands around her and holds her close, close close.

All his thoughts vanish into exhilarated delight.

_This is more precious than vengeance._


	50. Absolution

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**L**

_Absolution_

"Kagome...Kagome. If I could have changed it-"

"Then you would not be here, and I would be alone. I forgive you, Naraku. I forgive you, because I love you – and may the souls of all those you've hurt forgive _me_ for it."

He stares at her and breathes deeply of her scent, feels the warmth of her body pressed tight against him and listens to her heartbeat, strong and vital and intense.

"There is no one, not even the gods themselves, who would not forgive you, Kagome."

And he kisses her. It is the first time he has done so since he told her the truth of who he was; she does not pull away from him; her mouth is greedy, honey, wanton -

He does not deny her.


	51. Epilogue

_- Drabble Collection: The Icarus Factor -_

**Epilogue**

In the end it is not the shikon no tama that grants Naraku's wish, or Kagome's. In the end, each of them become for the other that thing which is most needed, most desired.

He has the woman he has always wanted, the willing love of her willing soul; he has sons and daughters and the light of her eyes, and if sometimes he misses the darkness that once occupied him, the scent and stain of blood spilled at his feet -

She is there, to remind him of how much better this story ends, compared to the other; she is there, and she has promised she will not leave him.

To the world, he is still _Hojou –_ a young man with impeccable marks, and an impeccable smile. He is ruthless in business, and quickly promoted; when he comes home with that certain smile on his face, Kagome knows now that though no one has died, someone will soon wish they had.

And Kagome – Kagome lives, and loves, and lingers in a faded world made more beautiful by the dark.

* * *

_Fin_

* * *

A/N: And...that ends this weeks completely random Naq-started plunnie fic of doom, 50 chapters, about 100 words each...DONE IN ONE DAY. Well, two, technically, but I haven't slept damn all, and that means ONE DAY! Anyway...thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed, and please,  
Please Review!


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